Children’s books

EMILY BEARN recommends brilliant holiday reading for all ages

Three plus

Fashion moves fast in children’s publishing – and while last year grandmothers topped the bill in picture books, this season it is grandfathers who take centre stage. ‘Every grandad’s different,’ is the message in Grandads are the Greatest (Bloomsbury, £7.99) by Ben Faulks, which combines simple rhyming text with engaging illustrations by Nia Tudor. ‘Grandads are the GREATEST, / no two are quite the same. / And each one’s had ADVENTURES / you and I can barely name.’ This is a truth borne out in Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate (Andersen, £12.99) which continues the adventures of Milly and her grandfather, who has been left shattered by the death of his male partner. When Milly discovers a gay pride flag in Grandad’s attic, she has an idea to help him celebrate again. (‘”What’s Pride?” I ask. “Pride is like a giant party.”’) And Grandpa and the Kingfisher by Anna Wilson (Nosy Crow, £12.99) is another deceptively multi-layered story, recounting a year in nature, as observed by a grandfather walking with his grandchild. (‘”The river is full of hidden things,” Grandpa said. “What can you see?”’) The river is also the setting for I am Oliver the Otter by Pam Ayres (Macmillan, £12.99), in which an otter called Oliver finds animals to search for her missing friend Terry. (‘”Oh, please,” twitched a squirrel named Sue, / “Won’t someone decide what to do?”’)

Seven-plus

For young detective fans, The Case of the Lighthouse Intruder by Kereen Getten (Pushkin, £7.99) follows the adventures of a girl growing up on an island off Jamaica,

Nine-plus

his life turned upside down by love. (‘I am very beautiful, with whiskers round my snout, / And I can close my ears and nose to keep the water out.’) And for some merry rhyming mayhem, When Cherry Lost Terry by Penny Phillips (Old Street, £6.99) tells the enchanting story of a white cat who recruits an A to Z of who dreams of becoming a detective. ‘Fayson Mayor, the twelve-year old FBI agent, has been recruited yet again to save the world. It’s getting exhausting, as she has only just stopped a major assassination plot against the King of England.’ But when her cousins recruit her to their gang, she finds that sleuthing does not always live up to her expectations. ‘The Magician’s Daughter by Caryl Lewis (Macmillan, £7.99) is an engrossing fantasy about a girl whose father is struggling as a jobbing magician. When Abby discovers an old book of spells, the fortunes of the family seem set to be transformed – but can Abby achieve her goals before the magic runs out? (‘”Abby, what on earth?! ….We’re FLYING!”’) And

The House With A Dragon

In It by Nick Lake (Simon & Schuster, £12.99), is the magical story of a child in foster care whose adventures begin when she finds a hole in the floor. ‘When Summer was little, her real mum used to tell her that if she ever saw a glass bottle lying on the ground, she should not pick it up in case a witch was inside. She said that one day Summer might know why, but she hoped not.’

For slightly older readers, there is plenty of schoolgirl high-jinx in Friends and Traitors by Helen Peters (Nosy Crow, £7.99), set in a girls’ boarding school during world-war two. When Sidney sees mysterious things being smuggled into the stables, it will fall to her and the reticent housemaid to uncover a dastardly plot. (‘Sidney took a deep breath. “We have to stop him. If we don’t it’s an insult to – to everyone who’s stood up against the Nazis.”’) Call of the Titanic (Chicken House, £7.99) by Lindsay Galvin, author of the bestselling Darwin’s Dragons, uses a mixture of letters and fictional witness statements to tell the stories of a cabin boy on board the Titanic, and a stowaway on Carpathia. (‘Can you believe I am writing from RMS Titanic! Quite the crowd at Southampton dock, but I was sure I could see you waving.’) And no young diary-keeper should be without a copy of A Calamity of Mannerings by Joanna Nadin (Uclan Publishing, £8.99), a former special adviser to Tony Blair. In this rumbustious coming of age story, our diarist Panth takes us on a whirlwind tour of 1920s England, as she negotiates cocktail parties, patriarchal injustices, and varyingly roguish suitors. (‘It is a curse to be born a girl …’) Finally, to keep young brains ticking during the long summer holiday, Philosophy for Everyone by Clive Gifford (Magic Cat, £14.99) gallops us through everything from feminism to categorical imperatives in 64 illustrated pages, lightened by the odd nugget of useless information. (Did you know that Francis Bacon died from pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow?)